Carson High baseball suffers 2nd frustrating loss to Reno

The Carson High baseball team must be walking away muttering to itself what could have been after being swept in a two-game series against Reno High.

In a game that was originally scheduled for Thursday and moved up to Wednesday, the Senators (3-4) suffered their second straight frustrating loss to the Huskies to open league play, falling 4-3 at Ron McNutt Field. Carson was coming off a 7-5 loss on Reno on Tuesday in which it committed three errors.

Carson played flawless defense on Wednesday, committing no errors, but a couple of missed opportunities on offense proved to be the difference. A balk also did play a role in Reno’s sixth inning rally in which it scored three runs to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead.

Carson took a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning, but it did come at a price as the Senators also had a runner thrown out at the plate. Kobe Morgan and Abel Carter singled and both moved up on Kyle Glanzmann’s sacrifice bunt. Kahle Good then singled to score Morgan, but Carter was thrown out at the plate on the play. After Jared Barnard walked, Landon Truesdale singled to score Good to give Carson a 2-1 lead.

Barnard, who was brilliant through five innings, tired on the mound in the sixth. A single, balk, bunt single and sacrifice fly tied the score 2-2. After a hit batsman and a walk, Reno took a 4-2 lead on a two-run single. Max Fontaine was outstanding in relief for Carson as he put out the fire, inducing a double play to end the inning. Fontaine pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing no hits and striking out two.

With two outs and nobody on in the seventh, Good walked and scored on Barnard’s double to bring Carson to within 4-3. But Truesdale flew out to end the game.

Carson had a chance to take the lead in the third when Carter singled to give the Senators runners at first and third with no outs. After Glanzmann laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Carter to second, Good walked to load the bases with one out, but the Senators failed to score.

Carter and Truesdale were each 2-for-4 and Teigan Key added a hit for Carson.